Peace Magazine August 1985, page 27. Some rights reserved.
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Denmark's Social Democratic Party is convening a conference for members of parliament from all the Nordic countries on October 27 in Copenhagen. The purpose is to plan a campaign to create a nuclear weapon free zone in all the Nordic countries. An overwhelming majority of Danes want a NWFZ. An organization called "Treaty Now" has been working promoting the idea. It will conclude its one-year campaign with a rally at Holmenkollen, near Oslo, on August 9. Bicyclists will converge at that place from all the Nordic countries to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Canadians who may be touring Europe at that time can join in. Contact No to Nuclear Weapons, Dronningsgade 14, DK -1420, Copenhagen K. Phone: 01-13 9314.
The 40th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will begin on August 4 this year with a Hibakusha forum in Hiroshima. On the next day, a "Mayors for Peace" conference will take place (Mayor Harcourt of Vancouver and perhaps other Canadian mayors will attend.) On August 6, a rally will converge at Hiroshima and on August 9 another rally will be held in Nagasaki.
Contact: Gensuikin, Akimoto Building, 2-19, Tsukasa-cho, Kanada, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Phone: 03-294-3994.
For a small town on Lake Ontario, the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has special significance. The Eldorado refinery in Port Hope, Ontario, produced uranium to supply the Manhattan Project which made the first atomic weapons possible. Because of this, a local peace group is co-ordinating a Hiroshima Day event which will be of interest to people in the Northumberland County-Durham Region. On the evening of August 6, People for Peace will plant a Japanese cherry tree in the town park, donated by the group to the town of Port Hope. The tree is a symbol of hope that out of the seeds of tragedy can grow new life and the special dedication of this community to the effort of peace. After the ceremony, a silent candlelight procession will move through the main street of Port Hope, followed by the floating of lanterns down the river to the lake, in memory of those who died. Other local peace groups are invited to participate. See The Peace Calendar.
Peace researchers may want to spend Christmas in FUi. The First International Conference on Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies will be held at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. Contact the Chairperson at P.O. Box 1168, Suva, Fiji Islands. If you want to present a paper, send an abstract immediately.
The Sault Ste. Marie city council is favorably considering a proposal to make their city a nuclear weapon free zone. They are studying all the possible ramifications of enacting such a measure, The Sault and District Peace Association requests that people who have submitted briefs to other communities on this issue please send copies of these documents to assist in this policy discussion. Contact Pamela Lewis, Box 1444, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 5P2.
The Ontario Peace Conference this fall will take place in Ottawa on the weekend of September 21-22. Since the workshops are only now being planned, people who expect to attend should forward their suggestions to the organizers as early as possible in August. Main themes will be NATO and proposals for an Ontario and for a Canadian Peace Alliance. Contact Peace Resource Centre, 142 Lewis Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0S7. Or phone Kristen Ostling, (613) 233-6345.
A delegation of Danish peace activists visited Istanbul, Turkey in May, collecting information about the persecution of members of the Turkish Peace Association (TPA). Eighteen members of the TPA were sentenced to 5-8 years in prison in 1983, and twelve of these people are still in military and civil prisons, awaiting appeals. The TPA was banned after a coup in 1980. Its members had argued against the neutron bomb, missiles, and U.S. bases in Turkey. They had published the Helsinki agreements and had worked against the arms race between Greece and Turkey. Now a case is being prepared by the military prosecutor in Istanbul against 150 members of TPA. The Danish Barristers Society concluded, after the delegation reported on its findings, that the government of Turkey tries to prevent democratic debate on demands for disarmament and thereby violates the U.N. Treaty.
On October 23-26, the "International Peace University" will hold its 1985 session in Arhus, Denmark. This "university" is actually a forum where professionals, workers, and students meet to discuss conflict resolution, the links between the arms race, the destruction of the environment, and the undermining of moral values. It meets in a different country every year. For more information, apply to International Fredsuniversitet, Center for Humanokologi, Arhus Universitet, Norrebrogade, DK-8000 Arhus C, Denmark. Phone: (06)13 67 11, ext. 453.
Protests will mark the Hiroshimal Nagasaki anniversaries in the United States. Among the 40 demonstrations at nuclear facilities will be the August 4-9 a peace encampment outside the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant in Amarillo, Texas. Also, nonviolent civil disobedience is planned for August 6-9 at the Nevada Test Site, organized by Sojourners Peace Ministry, P.O. Box 29272, Washington, D.C. 20017. For information about other actions, contact Mobilization for Survival, 853 Broadway, No. 2109, New York, N.Y. 10003.
The Pax Christi National Assembly is planning for an August 23-25 meeting:
"Disarming the Heart, Disarming the Nations." Contact Pax Christi, U.S.A., 348 E. 10th St., Erie, PA 16503.
In September (no firm date yet), a symposium will be held in Las Vegas on the economic implications of a nuclear test ban. Contact: Citizens Against Nuclear War, 1201 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.
The East York (Ont.) Peace Committee, along with an alderman, Gord Crann, is looking into ways of making their town a true NWFZ. The city's basic plan is being reviewed for the first time in about fifty years, and there is a possibility that it can be altered to specify that nuclear weapons and parts thereof cannot be produced in East York. With such a general principle in place, it will be easier to enact by-laws and zoning ordinances that enforce the policy.
A peace drama class for children will open in September in Toronto. Interested parents contact Ilene Cummings, 651-2955.
Scott Marsden was recently convicted of "mischief" and jailed in punishment for demonstrating at the plant where cruise missile guidance components are manufactured-Litton Systems Canada. It is Marsden's fourth conviction for civil disobedience. He will be serving his jail sentence on weekends, but must also contribute 200 hours to public service activities-presumably other charitable deeds besides trying to save the world!
The KGB seem to be cracking down on the Moscow Group for Trust again-apparently to prevent demonstrations in August, when an international youth festival will be meeting in Moscow. Two young women members were sent to mental hospitals and given drug shock treatment. A delegation of visiting Dutch activists who had planned to demonstrate with the Group were prevented from meeting them, and the Trust Group members who went ahead with the demonstration were arrested briefly. Forty members of the movement were later taken to a forest several hours' drive away, and left there.
The most serious prospect, however, is that facing Dr. Vladimir Brodsky, a 41-year-old cardiologist. He was beaten up by police officers, one of whom ripped off his own buttons and shouted that Brodsky had assaulted him. Later he apologized, explaining that he had been acting on the orders of the KGB. Brodsky refused to admit any guilt and after being charged with "aggravated hooliganism" was eventually released. This is no consolation, however, since such an offense is punished with 5 years' imprisonment, and he expects to be rejailed at any time. Brodsky, who married on the next day, has requested that peace activists phone or wire protests to the Soviet Embassy:
285 Charlotte Street, Ottawa K1N 8L5. Phone (613) 235-4341.
Saskatoon Against the Cruise Peace Association is planning to help Reagan afford to visit the cemetery at Hiroshima. They want to send him a large cheque-maybe three feet long!
Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament in Labrador have bought a booth at the Canadian Forces Air Show, where the latest military equipment is on display and the weapons trade is promoted. They will show a film and run an information booth. Unfortunately, the show is to be held in the U.S. hangar, and the local Colonel called to demand that they be ousted. Result: Their booth will be located near the concession stand.
A peace and development network is forming in Peterborough, Ontario. Fourteen groups will be networking and will provide a calendar of events to aid coordination. Contact Clifford Maynes at OPIRG, 748-1554.
At least three U.S. nuclear subs were at Nanoose Bay this spring, according to Laurie MacBride. All of them carried nuclear weapons. Peace campers there are determined to see the Canada/US agreement governing Nanoose ended when it expires in April, 1986. They want the base converted to peaceful purposes and are pushing the government of Canada to hold a public inquiry into the agreement. They welcome support and invite visitors to the camp. Write to Nanoose Conversion Campaign, Box 1981, Parksville, B.C. VOR 2S0. Phone Laurie at 248-4177.
A peace march through Central America is being planned by a Nordic group. Representatives from every nation are requested to travel together from Panama through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, to Mexico. The distance of about 2000 kilometers will be covered partly on foot and partly by other means of transportation. It will last about six weeks, staring in December. Contact: A Peace March in Central America, Rosenkrantz gt. 18, N-0160 Oslo 1, Norway.
The North Atlantic Network Conference will meet in Bergen, Norway between August 22 and 25. Discussions will include: naval strategy in the North Atlantic; sea- and air-launched cruise missiles;nuclear weapon free zones; and the North Atlantic Network. Cost: $45 US for foreign participants. Site: The Bergen Teachers College. Contact: Nei til Atomvapen, Youngstgt. 7,0181 Oslo 1, Norway.
Two delegations of Soviet visitors have toured Canada during the spring, one as guests of the Canada/USSR Friendship Society and the other at the invitation of Toronto/Volgograd. The high point of the latter group's visit was a meeting with a keenly interested group of students at Jarvis Collegiate Institute. When it was over, the two visitors, a woman teacher and a Soviet General, received gifts-including a Jarvis sweatshirt (for the General!) and a high school yearbook autographed by the students. One student wrote, "Other than reading Dr Zhivago, I've never known a Russian, and I'm grateful for the opportunity."
October24, 1986, 10:00 am. An eerie silence permeates the land. Transportation stops moving. Typewriters stop typing. Factories stop humming. People stop talking. It is as if a series of nuclear explosions have obliterated the land and everything on it. But no. Nature is alive. Animals are moving. Children are laughing and crying. And people are not vaporized; they are quiet-each one making a silent pledge for peace.
10:05 am. The silence breaks and people are cheering, making noise. Church-bells are ringing, horns are honking. By 10:10 am. life is back to normal. What remains is the memory of the collective affirmation of life.
Such is the plan of the "ten minutes for peace" campaign that evolved out of brainstorming sessions at the recent Northern Ontario Networking Conference. Participants were convinced that a major Canada-wide campaign will be neessary to build the unity of the peace and disarmament movement in Canada
The advantages of this campaign are many. It is an action that millions could do and would feel comfortable doing. Its success would depend on further developing the links between peace and disarmament groups and other sectors, such as women, the churches, and particularly labor. It would have a lobbying component, as governments at all levels would be encouraged to endorse and participate in the campaign. It could be launched this fall and the year of preparation would enable local groups to organize their own activities, particularly educational work.
Its main disadvantage is its scope. But here we present the dream. Wouldn't even some transportation stopping, some workplaces stopping, some people stop ping, be an event of significance?
A ~Buy New Zealand for Peace" information kit is available at $1 U.S. from P.O. Box 9523, Wellington, N.Z. It contains:
An election questionnaire designed by the Markham Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament was used by the new Central Toronto Peace Group to assess the positions of the three Ontario party leaders. This is how the new leaders responded. The questions were:
Rae's score was 100 percent: He answered "Yes" to every question. Peterson responded "Yes" to numbers 1,5,7,8, and 10, but "No" to 2,4, and 9, and was undecided about 3 and 6. Frank Miller made a statement instead of answering the questionnaire.
The Central Toronto Peace Group meets monthly and plans to continue interviewing candidates and publicizing their responses.
The Peace Research Institute Dundas will mail a list of resources for peace and global education at cost-$l.00. Contact: Sally Curry, 25 Dundana Ave., Dundas, Ont. L9H 4E5. Phone 416/ 628/2356.
Energy Probe has launched a campaign to stop Canada from exporting tritium. Hundreds of letters have gone out to peace and environmental groups, informing them about the problem.
As reported here previously, Ontario Hydro, with support from the federal and Ontario governments, plans to market tritium (from a tritium removal plant being built at the Darlington nuclear station) around the world.
Without fresh supplies of tritium, most nuclear weapons would lose their destructive ability with age. Yet in just two years, Ontario Hydro will be producing, and attempting to market, more than eight times as much tritium as the world's total civilian use. Without these huge new supplies, the world's nuclear arms industry will have difficulty producing enough tritium to meet their needs, and a tritium-production cutoff could be an important step toward nuclear disarmament. If Canadian tritium is sold around the world, it could easily end up being used in bombs, and it will surely allow the world's current supply of tritium to be dedicated entirely to arms. In either case, Canada would be setting back the cause of global disarmament.
These exports have to be licensed by the federal government. Energy Probe suggests, therefore, that concerned citizens should write letters to their MPs, to other officials, and to newspapers, to inform them about this issue. They also hope to receive letters from organizations that are willing to have their names entered on a list opposing these exports. Energy Probe expects to send these lists to Parliament and show that the opposition to tritium export is broadly based.
For a free fact sheet on tritium, write to Energy Probe, 100 College Street, Toronto MSG 1L5, or phone 416/978-7014. Copies of their publication, Tritium, Bombs, and Ontario Hydro can be ordered at a cost of $1.50.
The World Federalists of Canada held their annual meeting on June 14-16 at Conrad Grebel College, University of Waterloo. There are World Federalist branches in 25 countries now, as well as at the United Nations, and the head office is in Amsterdam. The 1400 Canadian members were represented by 120 people.
The former Executive Director, Dieter Heinrich, was acclaimed president, succeeding Dr. Norman Alcock. Heinrich, who represents a new generation of World Federalists, outlined the following shifts in the organization's strategies:
Instead of expecting radical change in the United Nations, the goal has shifted to producing sufficient change to avert a holocaust. This will require grassroots support, so Federalists must work more closely with the whole peace movement. We need a vision of each city as a world city and each person as part of an evolutionary process. For future directions, he suggested a Canadian-develop ed International Satellite Monitoring Agency (ISMA), media watch groups to promote the United Nations, a U.N. bureau at the CBC, and increased links with the Soviet Union. 'You can't federate alone," Heinrich pointed out.
The Federalists' 1985 Peace Award went to the Reverend Lois Wilson, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, c~director of the Ecumenical Forum, and one of seven presidents of the World Council of Churches.
Doug Mohr is planning to bicycle from Vancouver to Ottawa to raise funds for the Canadian peace movement to buy ads on TV and radio. Each ad will carry a suggested action, a toll free number, and a mailing address for people to find out more about peace groups in their area and to donate money and ask questions. Doug's trip will last from Aug. 1 to mid September. His organization, "Ride for Peace" is asking people to help obtain pledges; the conversation about pledges is a positive contribution in its own right. For further information about "Ride for Peace" contact Len McElroy at 416/ 536-2025 or Jennifer Yust at 416/639-
5954. Or address a letter to 524 Palmerston Blvd., Toronto M6G 2P5.
Peace activists from East and West will meet in Bern, Switzerland, on November 2-3 for a symposium, "The Peace Movement and Solidarnosc: Alternative to the Blocs?" Contact: Osteuropa Symposium, Postbox 1089, 3001 Bern.
Peace Magazine August 1985, page 27. Some rights reserved.
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